Software, automation devices containing software and software for the programming and/or configuration of automation systems are becoming increasingly more complex for users. Help systems are provided to support the user whilst handling software and/or an automation device. Help systems of this type are typically a part of the software and are delivered together with the software. The software is installed with help systems of this type onto a data processing device, the help system then being locally available and/or on a network drive on this data processing device. The result is that the help data provided in a help system of this type is very static and is not updated until a new version of the software is installed. If on the other hand the user requires help data and/or information which is not contained in the help system delivered together with the software, the user must research databases provided via the internet for additional help data and/or information for example. The user must thus operate two different systems and search for help data separately in both systems.
It is known from the prior art that a help system delivered together with a software installed locally on a data processing device features branches or exits into the internet. The user is thereby able to branch onto a help system available online, starting from the help system installed locally on the data processing device and available offline. However help systems which are available online and offline are not integrated. This means that according to the prior art, the user only branches to a general start page of an individual predefined homepage of a help system available online. In this help system available online, the user must once again separately search for the necessary help data. This is extremely time-consuming.
When the term help data is used below, this should be understood to include all data required by the user to solve a concrete problem. This can be data which relates to the software as such. If the software is automation software for example which is installed in an automation device or is programmed or configured with said automation device, this help data can also be information about the automation environment. By way of example, data and/or information about components of the automation device can be provided as help data. Help data can thus be information provided from different data sources of the automation environment. Help systems of this type could thus also be referred to as information systems.